If you’re in the mood for a laugh-out-loud comedy that is reminiscent of a combination of “South Park” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and written with a LGBTQIA+ and feminist perspective, look no further than “Bottoms.” The movie follows two lesbians, PJ and Josie, who are desperate to impress both of their crushes.
In doing so, they have an altercation with the school’s star quarterback, Jeff, that leads them to start a “fight club” for the girls in the school to teach them self-defense. At least that’s the goal of their advertising. In reality, PJ wants to use the club (and the rumors that they went to juvie) to get closer to their crushes. As the movie progresses, however, they get closer to those in the club and make some real friends, and they risk losing it all with their lies.
This movie is insanely funny. Every character is interesting and fun in their own way, and all of them feel extremely real. It is satirical and witty. Most importantly, it allows its characters to be flawed and interesting. Each character has a clear end goal for their character arc. In addition, despite being comedic, the characters feel real. Every character is vibrant, and none of them seem alike. When the movie got serious, I was surprised that those moments actually hit hard. Each character’s personality felt so in tune with this strange comedic reality this movie is set in.
On that note, however, some characters do definitely feel worse than others. PJ, for example, is pretty callous to the entire cast throughout the whole film and never gives a full apology. The other major issue is the beginning feels extremely rushed. The movie itself feels sped up during the intro, which made the tone a bit hard to grasp.
The tone of this movie is a big part of its charm as well. It’s clearly satirical and unafraid to show it. The movie is so clearly making fun of high school teen movies. For example, the entire school is obsessed with football or the fact that the main character’s club is an actual fight club. So many of the movie’s best moments are so absurd and communicate insanely well with the tone. The movie is also unapologetic about the fact that it’s satirical. No character is 100% right. It’s a nice breath of fresh air to see such a diverse cast be fully realized complex characters.
In conclusion, if you’re a fan of comedies, watch this movie. Despite the rushed beginning, it lands extremely well and keeps its momentum. It is unexpectedly heartfelt as well and an amazing movie to watch with friends. Half the fun of this movie is watching it with friends and laughing at every single joke. A solid nine out of 10.
